Enter key words, avoiding the use of terms like national, portrait, gallery, artist and sitter.
Use quotation marks to ensure all words are included, in exact order, for example “voting rights” or “edwin forrest as macbeth”.
Use a "+" or "-" in front of each word to ensure the search term MUST or MUST NOT be included, for example +baseball -photograph or “civil war” -Brady.
Use filters to narrow search results. For NAMES, search on last name only, and then use the Name filter to find the sitter or artist you are looking for.
Go to Advanced Search redirects you to the Smithsonian Collections Search Center, which provides additional search options. Results are pre-filtered on the National Portrait Gallery collection.
Only return images available through Open Access limits results to objects with Open Access images. Open Access images are in the public domain, meaning they are free of copyright restrictions, and you can use them for any purpose, free of charge. They are downloadable at the maximum size available.
Only return results on view in the museum limits results to National Portrait Gallery objects that are currently on view. To find objects on view that are on loan to the National Portrait Gallery, search the Catalog of American Portraits, under Research.